Alabama and Florida will play for the SEC championship a week from today. Only arch-rivals stand in the way of that game being a national semifinal.
Top-ranked Alabama hosts Auburn today, and No. 4 Florida plays at Florida State. What are the upset chances?
Better in Tuscaloosa than in Tallahassee.
Auburn has won six straight Iron Bowls and has played every good opponent close.
Of course, the Tigers have lost to all those good foes and are 5-6.
Auburn’s wins are over Louisiana-Monroe, Southern Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Tennessee-Martin. All have losing records.
But Auburn plays defense, which should at least keep the game close.
"When I was hired, I was told, and I’m sure Nick Saban and everybody that coaches at Alabama have been told, that you have to win the Iron Bowl,” said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville.
Mission accomplished. Tuberville is 7-2 against Bama.
Meanwhile, Florida State is coming off a 37-3 win at Maryland last week in a matchup of ACC contenders. But the Seminoles lost at home to Boston College the week before.
Florida State isn’t bad on defense; the Seminoles rank 19th nationally in scoring defense (18.5 points per game) and seventh in total defense.
But Florida ranks third in scoring defense (12.0), has a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Tim Tebow and has been slaughtering teams, OU-style, since its 31-30 loss to Ole Miss in September.
Arkansas fell 38-7. LSU 51-21. Kentucky 63-5. Georgia 49-10. Vanderbilt 42-14. South Carolina 56-6. The Citadel 70-19.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden called Tebow perhaps the most difficult quarterback he’s faced in 33 years with the Seminoles.
"He has got something special there,” Bowden said of Gator coach Urban Meyer. "He has all the ingredients to play his offense the way he wants to play it.”
If there’s an upset today, bet on Tuscaloosa.
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